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orange · warm

#ec8c69

a light, electric orange · warm · closest name: Dark Salmon

Token name suggestion: Linen Apricot

RGB
236, 140, 105
HSL
16°, 78%, 67%
CMYK
0, 41, 56, 8
Luminance
0.3761

#ec8c69 is a light electric orange, 16° on the wheel and 8/100 on the cool side. Put black text on it (8.52:1). As text it scores 2.46:1 on white — use #CB491A instead. Nearest name is Dark Salmon, nearest Tailwind family is orange.

hsl(16 78% 67%)rgb(236 140 105)Base step 400AAA inkWarm

At a glance

Every number on this page in one read: what #ec8c69 is made of, how bright it looks, and which way it leans.

Hex
#ec8c69
Hue
16°
orange
Saturation
78%
electric
Lightness
67%
light
Brightness
93%
HSV value
Perceived
67%
weighted brightness
Luminance
0.3761
WCAG relative
Temperature
Warm
8/100 cool
Color family
Orange
Tone
Electric
Best ink
Black
8.52:1
Closest name
Dark Salmon
ΔE2000 3.3
Chroma
47.6
LCH, 0–130ish
OKLCH L
0.734
perceptual lightness
Tailwind
orange
500 · ΔE 11.3
Web-safe
#FF9966
nearest of 216
Where it sits
Hue16° of 360°
Saturation78%
Lightness67%
Saturation × lightness field

Left edge is grey, right edge is full chroma; top is white, bottom is black. The dot is #ec8c69.

Temperature
Warm ← → Cool8% cool

Reads warm. Warm and cool siblings keep the same lightness, so you can swap one in without redoing your contrast maths.

Luminance by channel
Red47%
Green50%
Blue3%

Green carries most of what the eye calls brightness — that is why WCAG weights it 0.7152.

Every format

HEX#ec8c69
HEX (8-digit)#ec8c69ff
RGBrgb(236, 140, 105)
RGBArgba(236, 140, 105, 1)
HSLhsl(16, 78%, 67%)
HSV / HSBhsv(16, 56%, 93%)
HWBhwb(16 41% 7%)
CMYKcmyk(0%, 41%, 56%, 8%)
LABlab(67.7 33.1 34.3)
LCHlch(67.7 47.6 46.0)
OKLCHoklch(0.734 0.127 40.6)
XYZ (D65)xyz(46.52, 37.61, 18.17)
Decimal15502441
Display P3color(display-p3 0.925 0.549 0.412)
Web-safe#FF9966

Copy-ready code

every platformclick to select
/* CSS */
color: #ec8c69;
background-color: #ec8c69;
/* CSS custom property */
--brand: #ec8c69;
/* Tailwind (arbitrary) */
class="text-[#ec8c69] bg-[#ec8c69]"
/* SCSS */
$brand: #ec8c69;
/* SwiftUI */
Color(red: 0.925, green: 0.549, blue: 0.412)
/* UIKit */
UIColor(red: 0.925, green: 0.549, blue: 0.412, alpha: 1)
/* Android XML */
<color name="brand">#EC8C69</color>
/* Android Compose */
Color(0xFFEC8C69)
/* Flutter */
Color(0xFFEC8C69)
/* Python / OpenCV (BGR) */
(105, 140, 236)
/* Python / PIL (RGB) */
(236, 140, 105)
/* Java AWT */
new Color(236, 140, 105)
/* .NET */
Color.FromArgb(255, 236, 140, 105)
/* OpenGL / Unity (0–1) */
(0.9255f, 0.5490f, 0.4118f, 1f)
/* LaTeX */
\definecolor{brand}{RGB}{236,140,105}
modern cssclick to select
/* mix without leaving CSS */
background: color-mix(in oklab, #ec8c69 85%, white);
border-color: color-mix(in oklab, #ec8c69 40%, transparent);
/* theme-aware in one line */
color: light-dark(#71290E, #EEDAD3);
/* relative colour syntax */
--hover: hsl(from #ec8c69 h s calc(l - 7));

Design tokens

The same ramp in the four formats a team actually needs. Paste one and the whole palette lands with it.

css custom propertiesclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: #FCF5F3;
  --brand-100: #F9EBE6;
  --brand-200: #F4D3C7;
  --brand-300: #F2B39B;
  --brand-400: #ec8c69;
  --brand-500: #E66638;
  --brand-600: #D94E1C;
  --brand-700: #B54117;
  --brand-800: #913412;
  --brand-900: #692912;
  --brand-950: #421A0B;
  --brand: #ec8c69;
  --brand-ink: #000000;
  --brand-surface: #FAF6F4;
  --brand-border: #EDCCC0;
  --brand-hover: #E87449;
  --brand-pressed: #E45B2A;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --brand-surface: #241814;
    --brand-ink: #EEDAD3;
  }
}
tailwind.config.jsclick to select
theme: {
  extend: {
    colors: {
      brand: {
        50: '#FCF5F3',
        100: '#F9EBE6',
        200: '#F4D3C7',
        300: '#F2B39B',
        400: '#ec8c69',
        500: '#E66638',
        600: '#D94E1C',
        700: '#B54117',
        800: '#913412',
        900: '#692912',
        950: '#421A0B',
        DEFAULT: '#ec8c69',
      },
    },
  },
}
scss mapclick to select
$brand: (
  '50': #FCF5F3,
  '100': #F9EBE6,
  '200': #F4D3C7,
  '300': #F2B39B,
  '400': #ec8c69,
  '500': #E66638,
  '600': #D94E1C,
  '700': #B54117,
  '800': #913412,
  '900': #692912,
  '950': #421A0B,
);
$brand-base: #ec8c69;
$brand-ink: #000000;

@function brand($step) { @return map-get($brand, $step); }
w3c design tokens (json)click to select
{
  "color": {
    "brand": {
      "50": { "$value": "#FCF5F3", "$type": "color" },
      "100": { "$value": "#F9EBE6", "$type": "color" },
      "200": { "$value": "#F4D3C7", "$type": "color" },
      "300": { "$value": "#F2B39B", "$type": "color" },
      "400": { "$value": "#ec8c69", "$type": "color" },
      "500": { "$value": "#E66638", "$type": "color" },
      "600": { "$value": "#D94E1C", "$type": "color" },
      "700": { "$value": "#B54117", "$type": "color" },
      "800": { "$value": "#913412", "$type": "color" },
      "900": { "$value": "#692912", "$type": "color" },
      "950": { "$value": "#421A0B", "$type": "color" }
    },
    "brandInk": { "$value": "#000000", "$type": "color" }
  }
}

Best text color

Only one of black and white can be right. This is the one, with the number that proves it.

Readable at a glance#000000 on #ec8c69 · 8.52:1
Use #000000AAA at every size.
Aa
12px
Aa
16px
Aa
24px
Aa
White text · 2.46:1
AA fail · AA large fail · AAA fail
Aa
Black text · 8.52:1 · recommended
AA pass · AA large pass · AAA pass
Reading the other direction: #ec8c69 as text scores 2.46:1 on white and 8.52:1 on black.
Best tinted ink on it, if plain black or white feels flat: #71290E at 4.21:1.

Make it accessible

A contrast checker tells you that you failed. This tells you what to ship instead — same hue, same saturation, lightness moved only as far as WCAG demands.

The quick fox
#CB491A · 4.66:1
AA on white−22% L
#CB491A
The quick fox
#993713 · 7.22:1
AAA on white−33% L
#993713
The quick fox
#ec8c69 · 8.52:1
AA on blackalready passes
#ec8c69
The quick fox
#ec8c69 · 8.52:1
AAA on blackalready passes
#ec8c69

Large text — 24px regular or 18.66px bold and above — only needs 3:1, so #E77045 is enough for headings on white. Non-text elements such as icons, chart strokes and focus rings also sit at 3:1 under WCAG 2.2 (1.4.11).

Accessibility — WCAG contrast

Aa
#ec8c69 on white: 2.46:1
AA ✗ fail · AA-large · AAA
Aa
#ec8c69 on black: 8.52:1
AA ✓ pass · AA-large · AAA
Against the neutral ladder

Contrast is symmetric, so each row covers both directions: #ec8c69 as text on that neutral, and that neutral as text on #ec8c69.

NeutralRatioBoth directions
White2.46:1AaAa
Slate 502.36:1AaAa
Slate 1002.25:1AaAa
Slate 2002.00:1AaAa
Slate 3001.66:1AaAa
Slate 4001.04:1AaAa
Slate 5001.93:1AaAa
Slate 6003.08:1AaAa
Slate 7004.20:1AaAa
Slate 8005.94:1AaAa
Slate 9007.24:1AaAa
Black8.52:1AaAa
Colour vision deficiency
true color
protanopia · #A59966
deuteranopia · #BCAD68
tritanopia · #FF7B83

Roughly one man in twelve has some form of colour vision deficiency. If any of the three panels above is hard to tell apart from a neighbouring colour in your palette, add a shape, an icon or a label so the meaning does not rest on hue alone.

Color scale — 50 to 950

A Tailwind-shaped ramp built around this exact hex. #ec8c69 is pinned to step 400; the rest hold its hue and let saturation ease off at the extremes so the pale end never turns neon.

#FCF5F3
#F9EBE6
#F4D3C7
#F2B39B
#ec8c69
#E66638
#D94E1C
#B54117
#913412
#692912
#421A0B
Base = 400Lightest = 50 · #FCF5F3Darkest = 950 · #421A0BText step on white = 700
Perceptual ramp — OKLCH

The same eleven steps expressed in OKLCH, where equal lightness numbers actually look equally spaced. HSL ramps go muddy in the yellows and washed out in the blues; this one does not. Modern browsers render it natively — the hex ramp above is the fallback.

50100200300400500600700800900950
oklch tokensclick to select
:root {
  --brand-50: oklch(0.97 0.032 40.6);
  --brand-100: oklch(0.94 0.051 40.6);
  --brand-200: oklch(0.88 0.076 40.6);
  --brand-300: oklch(0.80 0.099 40.6);
  --brand-400: oklch(0.72 0.117 40.6);
  --brand-500: oklch(0.64 0.127 40.6);
  --brand-600: oklch(0.56 0.127 40.6);
  --brand-700: oklch(0.48 0.119 40.6);
  --brand-800: oklch(0.40 0.107 40.6);
  --brand-900: oklch(0.32 0.089 40.6);
  --brand-950: oklch(0.24 0.070 40.6);
}

Colors that work with #ec8c69

Not a palette — a role sheet. Each swatch answers one question you will hit while building the component.

Text on it#000000
Black wins here
Surface#FAF6F4
Tinted page background
Border#EDCCC0
Hairlines and dividers
Muted text#9B604B
Captions on the surface
Accent#13B6B9
Second voice, not a rival
Dark variant#71290E
Hover, pressed, headers
Light variant#FCEEE8
Selected rows, tints
Dark surface#241814
Dark-mode background
Hover#E87449
One step down in lightness
Pressed#E45B2A
Two steps down
Disabled#E9E0DC
Chroma pulled out
Focus ring#F69674
Offset from the fill so it reads
Light mode
Everything in its place

Surface, border, heading and body all derive from this one hue, so the screen stays coherent without a second palette.

Primary actionSecondaryBadge
Dark mode
Same hue, inverted

Lightness flips, hue holds. The accent stays the anchor in both themes.

Primary actionSecondaryAccent

In real components

The same eight roles, wired into the interface patterns you will actually build with them. Every state below is a computed value, not a mock-up.

Buttons and states
Save changesHoverPressedDisabled
OutlineSubtleLinkFocused
Form field
you@company.com

Focus ring uses the light variant so the field still reads as one shape.

Send me product updates
Notice
Your export is ready

The file stays available for seven days. Download it before it expires.

NewBetaDraft
Data
Storage used68%
Acme LtdActive
NorthwindTrial
GlobexActive

How to use #ec8c69

Derived from its contrast, chroma and lightness — not from taste.

Works well for
  • Text and icons on dark surfaces
  • Primary buttons and calls to action
  • Focus rings, active and selected states
  • Card and section backgrounds
  • Brand accents, badges and data highlights
Use with care
  • Text of any size on white — fails WCAG AA
  • Full-page backgrounds — tiring over long sessions
  • White text placed on it
  • Pairing with a same-lightness hue — edges vibrate
Minimum size as text on white
Not as text
Safe as a fill behind white type
No — use #71290E
Safe as a 1px border on white
No — use #E77045

Meaning and mood

What a colour in this family tends to signal, and how this particular chroma and lightness change the reading.

friendlyenergeticaffordablesocial

Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing.

At this chroma the association is amplified — it will dominate anything placed beside it, so give it space and use it sparingly. The lightness keeps it airy and approachable.

Worth knowing

Hard to make feel premium, and it collides with the "caution" band in status systems.

Reads as
  • FormalityLow
  • EnergyHigh
  • Weight33/100
  • TemperatureWarm
  • ApproachabilityHigh

Colour associations are cultural and vary by market. Treat these as a starting point for a conversation with your audience, not a finding about them.

Similar colors

One move away from this hex in each direction. Every swatch is its own page.

Color relationships

The wheel positions with their names attached, so you can grab the one you actually need.

Complementary#69C9EC
Analogous left#EC6988
Analogous right#ECCD69
Split-complement 1#69ECCD
Split-complement 2#6988EC
Triadic 1#69EC8C
Triadic 2#8C69EC
Tetradic#88EC69
On the wheel
Base+30°−30°+120°+240°+180°16°

#ec8c69 sits at 16°. Every dot is a harmony position and links to its own page in the table alongside.

RGB percentages

Red92.5%
Green54.9%
Blue41.2%
R · 0–255
236
0xec
G · 0–255
140
0x8c
B · 0–255
105
0x69

CMYK percentages

Cyan0.0%
Magenta40.7%
Yellow55.5%
Key (black)7.5%

Total ink coverage is 104%. Most commercial presses cap around 300% — above that, sheets stop drying properly.

Color previews

#ec8c69 text on a black background

contrast 8.52:1

Card sample

#ec8c69 text on a white background

contrast 2.46:1

Card sample

#ec8c69 on grey

2.25:1

#ec8c69 on its own surface

2.29:1

#ec8c69 on its dark surface

7.01:1

CSS3 live lab

Text font color

The quick brown fox

color: #ec8c69;
Background color
Panel with #ec8c69 background
background-color: #ec8c69;
Text shadow — hex

Glowing headline

text-shadow: 2px 2px 8px #ec8c69;
Text shadow — RGB

Soft neon halo

text-shadow: 0 0 14px rgba(236, 140, 105, 0.45);
Div box shadow
Elevated card
box-shadow: 0 12px 32px -8px rgba(236, 140, 105, 0.45);
Border & gradient
Gradient panel
border: 3px solid #ec8c69;
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ec8c69, #ECE369);
Gradient text

Gradient headline

background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ec8c69, #D4EC69);
-webkit-background-clip: text;
color: transparent;
Focus ring
Focused control
outline: 2px solid #ec8c69;
outline-offset: 3px;
Underline & caret

Marked up text

text-decoration-color: #ec8c69;
caret-color: #ec8c69;
Left rule
Pull quote or callout
border-left: 4px solid #ec8c69;
Ring + tint
Selected chip
background: #FCEEE8;
box-shadow: inset 0 0 0 2px #ec8c69;
Conic badge
68%
background: conic-gradient(#ec8c69 68%, #e2e8f0 0);

Transparency

What each alpha value actually composites to. The top row is #ec8c69 over white; the bottom row is the same alpha over a checkerboard, so you can see what survives on a photo or a video.

Bottom row of hexes is the flattened result over white — use those when a design tool refuses transparency, or when you need a solid fallback.

alpha in every syntaxclick to select
rgba(236, 140, 105, 0.5)
rgb(236 140 105 / 50%)
#ec8c6980
hsl(16 78% 67% / 50%)
color-mix(in srgb, #ec8c69 50%, transparent)
Alpha8-digit hexFlat on white
10%#ec8c691a#FDF4F0
20%#ec8c6933#FBE8E1
40%#ec8c6966#F7D1C3
60%#ec8c6999#F4BAA5
80%#ec8c69cc#F0A387

Gradients from #ec8c69

Six recipes, each built from this hex and shown with the exact CSS that produced it.

Elevation
Same hue, three lightnesses — safe anywhere
background: linear-gradient(135deg, #F3B69F, #ec8c69 45%, #71290E);
Duotone
A short hue run reads richer than a flat fill
background: linear-gradient(120deg, #ec8c69, #E6E94E);
Complement sweep
Loud — keep it behind large type only
background: linear-gradient(90deg, #ec8c69, #69C9EC);
Spotlight
Hero panels and app headers
background: radial-gradient(120% 120% at 20% 0%, #F6CBBB 0%, #ec8c69 45%, #71290E 100%);
Soft wash
Section backgrounds that stay readable
background: linear-gradient(180deg, #FAF6F4, #ffffff);
Mesh
Ambient background, no image weight
background: radial-gradient(60% 60% at 15% 20%, #F296B3 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(55% 55% at 85% 15%, #EFDF84 0%, transparent 60%), radial-gradient(70% 70% at 50% 95%, #71290E 0%, transparent 65%), #ec8c69;

Monochromatic scale

Palettes built from #ec8c69

Shades — darker

Tints — lighter

Tones — desaturated

Color harmonies

Nearest named colors

Ranked with CIEDE2000 across all 139 CSS keywords. Under ΔE 2 the eye stops telling them apart; over ΔE 10 they are plainly different colors.

#ec8c69 in the real world

Where a color in this family tends to land, and the interface roles it is usually asked to play.

Industries
E-commerceFood deliveryLogisticsCreator tools
Common UI roles
SurfacesBadgesHighlightsEmpty states
Print note

Sits outside most CMYK gamuts — expect a duller press result, or specify a spot ink.

On screens

Holds up across typical panel gamma. Still worth checking on an uncalibrated laptop, where mid-tones shift most.

In dark mode

Usable as-is on a dark surface at 8.52:1.

Explore nearby colors

Small, deliberate steps away from this hex — useful when you are hunting for the version of a colour that finally feels right.

#ec8c69, answered

What color is #ec8c69?

#ec8c69 is a light electric orange, closest to Dark Salmon (ΔE2000 3.3). It sits at 16° on the hue wheel with 78% saturation and 67% lightness, which reads as warm.

What is the RGB value of #ec8c69?

rgb(236, 140, 105) — 236 red, 140 green and 105 blue out of 255, or 92.5% / 54.9% / 41.2% by channel.

What is #ec8c69 in HSL and HSV?

hsl(16, 78%, 67%) and hsv(16, 56%, 93%). HSL is what CSS takes; HSV is what your design tool's picker shows, which is why the saturation numbers rarely match.

Is #ec8c69 a light or a dark color?

It is a mid-tone. Relative luminance is 0.3761 and perceived brightness is 67%, so black text on it reaches 8.52:1.

Should I use black or white text on #ec8c69?

Black. It scores 8.52:1 against #ec8c69, versus 2.46:1 for white — AAA at any size.

Is #ec8c69 accessible on a white background?

#ec8c69 on white scores 2.46:1, which fails WCAG AA at every size. Darken it to #CB491A to reach 4.5:1, or #993713 for 7:1.

What is the complementary color of #ec8c69?

#69C9EC sits directly opposite on the wheel. Softer options are the split-complements #69ECCD and #6988EC, which give the same contrast with far less vibration.

What colors go well with #ec8c69?

For interface work: #FAF6F4 as the surface, #EDCCC0 for borders, #9B604B for secondary text, #13B6B9 as an accent and #71290E for hover and pressed states. For a palette, the analogous pair #EC6988 and #ECCD69 stays calm, while #69C9EC is the loudest partner.

What is #ec8c69 in CMYK for printing?

cmyk(0%, 41%, 56%, 8%). This is a screen-to-ink approximation — a color this saturated sits outside most CMYK gamuts and will print duller than it looks here.

Is #ec8c69 warm or cool?

Warm — it scores 8 on a scale where 0 is the warmest orange and 100 the coolest azure. Nudged warmer it becomes #EC9969; nudged cooler, #EE6775.

Which Tailwind color is closest to #ec8c69?

The orange family — its 500 step is #f97316, ΔE2000 11.3 away. That is a visible difference, so define #ec8c69 as a custom token rather than reaching for the built-in.

How do I use #ec8c69 in Tailwind CSS?

Inline it as an arbitrary value with bg-[#ec8c69] or text-[#ec8c69], or register the whole ramp under theme.extend.colors.brand so you get bg-brand-500 and friends. The generated 50–950 scale on this page is ready to paste into your config.

What is #ec8c69 with 50% opacity?

rgba(236, 140, 105, 0.5), or #ec8c6980 in eight-digit hex. Over white that composites to #F6C6B4; over black, #764635.

Is #ec8c69 a web-safe color?

No. The nearest web-safe colour is #FF9966, ΔE2000 5.7 away. The palette only matters for legacy displays and some email clients now.

What does the color #ec8c69 mean?

As a orange, it reads friendly, energetic, affordable. Orange is red with the aggression taken out — approachable, active, and strongly associated with buying and doing. At this chroma the effect is amplified — it will dominate whatever sits beside it.

What gradient works with #ec8c69?

The safest is same-hue elevation: linear-gradient(135deg, #F3B69F, #ec8c69 45%, #71290E). For more colour, a short hue run to #E6E94E keeps it rich without turning muddy.

Work with #ec8c69 in the Color Lab

Every tool opens with this colour already loaded.

Every value on this page is computed from #ec8c69 at request time — conversions, contrast ratios and ΔE distances are calculated, never looked up.